China Possesses More Land-Based Intercontinental-Range Missile Launchers Than US - Reports

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th February, 2023) China possesses more land-based intercontinental-range ballistic missile launchers than the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a report by the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM) to Congress.

The number of land-based fixed and mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launchers in China exceeds the number of such launchers in the United States, the report cited STRATCOM as saying to the US House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

The report also cited US officials that many of China's land-based launchers allegedly still have empty silos.

However, STRATCOM's report to Congress�said that the United States has more intercontinental-range land-based missiles and more nuclear warheads mounted on those missiles, according to the newspaper.

US officials also said that STRATCOM's report did not include in its calculations submarine-launched missiles and long-range bombers, noting that the United States has an advantage in those kinds of weapon systems.

China is on course to achieve superiority over the United States in land-based strategic nuclear forces unless Washington invests heavily in modernizing its land-based long-range missile force, STRATCOM chief Adm. Charles Richard told Congress in March.

Richard said he had previously warned that China's nuclear and conventional military forces had reached a new level of capability amounting to a strategic "breakout" that changed the global balance of power.�